I've been using Karmic for a few months and I really like it.

But I have a couple problems I just can't solve:
GPU temp - idles at 66 and goes to 75 with almost any apps running. The problem is getting worse.

Weirdnesses going on like... in the last week the upper right buttons (maximize, minimize, close) have disappeared from most but not all app windows; RAM usage has gone from about 400-500MB to almost 1 gig with the same bunch of apps running and same system settings.

And... my system hangs. Used to be never, then maybe once a week, and now almost every day. I have to do a hard restart.

I've re-installed Karmic from scratch twice but this same progression keeps happening.

So... I want to go back to XP as the base OS and run my karmic in VirtualBox.

Is there a way I can ghost my current installation - settings, files, programs and all and run it as a virtual appliance or do I need to install it fresh and rebuild everything?

Thanks

don't go back!!! it's not worth it!

Seriously though, you may try another distro, I had similar problems with karmic as far as RAM goes. Give something more stable a try, such as debian. Ubuntu is based off of debian, so you should feel pretty much at home.

hlo,

or even try a complete another distro

mandriva-based (PCLinuxOS, ...), or a self-compiling distro, ...


Don't give up (quickly), it's the time and effort worth!

Success

RuBeN

PS (maybe give a look at distrowatch)

bret381 is right!
It seems you haven't try any other distro. What machine do you have?
About temperature. Hm.. May you give your computer a little rest? After >1h all will be norm.

Hey,

Thanks guys :-)

Is there an easy way to do another distro or do I need to reformat and reinstall everything?

I am an utter Linux idiot - so I definitely need something as easy as Ubuntu. But I've also already spent a lot of time on this and I have other things I'd rather do than tinker with my OS :-) And it seems that's what I do about 1/2 the time.

As far as overheating, My system goes to 65-70 within 15 minutes of booting up - after being off overnight - without doing anything at all. Running a browser puts it to 0ver 70. And watching a youtube vid gets us to over 75. Any 3d game shuts down withing 10 minutes and the GPU is around 90.

Part of the problem, I think, is that the fans don't run at max - ever. I've tried looking for a fan manager like Dell's I8kfanGU - with no luck.

I can't even do any vid editing or anything like that.

I have a Dell M90 notebook. 4 gig RAM, Nvidia Quatro FX 3500 512MB

BTW - With XP I'd idle at about 45. gaming or editing would get me as high as 75. Never saw it higher than that.

Well I am using Karmic on a spare laptop, I am noticing the same thing I tried Intrepid and it got a little better, if Ubuntu is acting up try a different distro but dont go to XP. On my 8 computers I like to have Dreamlinux 3.5 on them, but it may have trouble installing just to allert you there is a problem in the core of the installer.

See ya

While ubuntu may be easy in the sense that it provides GUI interfaces for many things, it is not easy in the sense that you can go right ahead and use everything provided. As you have found out, it has many problems and components that don't work. To some extent that is because of its design intentions -- to be cutting edge and to publish a new version every 6 months.

There are many distros available, each with distinct design aims and characteristics. You may have an easier time if you choose a distro noted for stability. It might not be as cutting edge as the latest ubuntu; it might not have as much whizz and eye candy ... but it may be a lot easier to live with.

Is there an easy way to downgrade to Intrepid?

Or change distro?

Karmic's a bit poor in my experience. Try an older version of Ubuntu, or a different distro.

There is no easy way to downgrade, you'll have to reinstall.

Not downgrade, as such, except to clean-install from an Intrepid media.

Changing distro is as simple as downloading the image and booting from it, same as Ubuntu. If your partition layout has your home partition separate, when you install the new system, set it to be mounted as /home, and don't format it - it means you'll have all your documents and settings saved (if that doesn't make sense, don't worry)

I would get another distro, I heard a lot of bad things about Ubuntu 9.10 (but I haven't tried it myself). Fedora is what I started with and I would recommend it.

And as for being "an utter Linux idiot", you can start by checking out the tutorial links in my sig.

Suffice to say that Intrepid (Or Jaunty for me, but that's my personal opinion) was the last decent Ubuntu.
Fedora I have trouble with because of SELinux being overly irritating, most of that is just because I couldn't care less, and it cares too much.

I too have seen firsthand the problems that have been appearing in the freshest Ubuntu releases. I don't use *buntu personally, but my roommate does, and she wants something that pretty much "just works" and is easy to use, you know, with GUI's and things like that. She has gone back to 9.04 because it worked pretty well, and she has opted not to upgrade it again, but instead, to look into other distros as it has been suggested that you (the OP here) also try doing.

I would venture a guess that overall, running a defective *buntu inside a VM on Windows, will in the long run provide you no better an experience than simply running the defective *buntu without a VM. The same problems have the same potential to rear up.

Anyhow, before much more rambling on my part, I also will suggest you look at Mint. I'm basing this suggestion solely on the numerous good feedback I have read from people who have tried it, so as always, your own mileage may vary.

Whatever you end up with, if you choose a known-stable Linux OS, with a release-cycle that is based on "things work well" rather than "it's that time again", and be patient to learn it's ins and outs and get comfortable with it, I am hopeful you will enjoy it more in the long run than you would a WinXP installation.


Best of success,
Sasha

there are hundreds of distro's available

Personally, years ago, after a lot of research (0.92 version was (very) unknown) I chose for PCLinuxOS
: slogan

Radically Simple: and that was and is true for me

I don't know how unknown it's today, but this distro has its own control center - apart of the KDE/gnome-one (equals to Mandriva's, despite it goes its own way now).

But if you want to try, there is coming a new release (2010) within a couple of weeks (and from then on it'll has again a rolling release cycle (without new installs for some years)

Now I stop nagging... there are many good distro's.....

RuBeN